Rumour - another new villain in The Amazing Spider-Man 2?

Potentially big spoilers ahead, as a fan report suggests another previously unannounced villain will do battle with Andrew Garfield's Spidey in the upcoming sequel.

There have been a great many whispers coming out of the Sony Pictures camp lately, suggesting that the studio want to maximise on their ownership of arguably the most popular Marvel superhero, clearly hoping to compete with Marvel Studios by making their own Spidey-centric movie universe as vast as possible.

Whilst at the moment we can only guess as to which Spider-Man supporting characters might headline their own movies, it has been strongly suggested that the world within 'The Amazing Spider-Man' movies themselves will be expanded by the Sinister Six, a super-villain team who unite to make life miserable for our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

Thus far, we have known for sure of two such villains to arrive in next year's 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' - Electro (Jamie Foxx) and Rhino (Paul Giamatti). However, evidence has now come to light suggesting there may be at least one more villain making a first appearance in the upcoming sequel...

Whilst Electro and Rhino were the only characters confirmed to appear in full-on super-villain mode, it has long been known that at least two other villains-in-waiting would make their first appearance (within the chronology of the reboot at least) in 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2:' Norman Osborn and his son Harry, with 'American Beauty' star Chris Cooper and 'Chronicle' star Dane DeHaan taking over in the roles previously played by Willem Defoe and James Franco.

The elder Osborn, of course, becomes the Green Goblin, whilst the younger has in different stories become either a second incarnation of the Green Goblin, or the Hobgoblin... and, if Comic Book Movie have it right, it may be the younger Osborn who we see take on that villainous form first.

Now, as is ever the case with these things, we ought to take this news with a very big pinch of salt. The source for the report, after all, is the appearance of 'very genuine looking reproductions of storyboards' from 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' which have gone up for sale on eBay, which appear to show Harry Osborn mutating into some new form of Goblin.

In other words - there is zero photographic evidence, zero confirmation from anyone involved in the movie. So for all we know, these might very well have been drawn by anyone.

Still, there can be little doubt that at some point across the upcoming 'Amazing Spider-Man' movies - Sony have already confirmed they plan to make a third and fourth instalment, not to mention the proposed spin-off movies - we would be seeing at least one, if not both of the Osborns take on the Goblin persona.

And given how unimpressed most fans were with the Power Rangers-esque robotic suit worn by Willem Defoe in Sam Raimi's 2002 'Spider-Man,' it would absolutely make sense for a new incarnation of the Goblin to be a full-on genetic mutation.

Even if these storyboards are genuine, though, I'd have to wonder whether the big reveal of the new Goblin (whether Green or Hob) will be an end credits stinger to set up the third movie. As the much-maligned 'Spider-Man 3' demonstrated, introducing too many villains in one go often proves a recipe for disaster.

Of course, if we do indeed get the Goblin in 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2,' that's at least three of the Sinister Six introduced already; so who might we be seeing next...?

'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' comes swinging into cinemas in April 2014.

Would you like to see Harry Osborn become the Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man 2? Or will too many villains spoil the broth? Let us known in the comments.

Ben Busseyis an editor of horror websiteBrutal As Hell, and holds an MA in Cult Film & TV from Brunel University. He doesn't much fancy Sony's chances of replicating the success of Marvel Studios with their planned Spidey spin-offs, but he's intrigued to see what they come up with.